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The author sent me an ARC of this book (mobi format) in exchange for an honest review.

My rating:⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Plot(by Goodreads)

Lexie Miles, a southern belle living her dream life in Paris, is devastated when her best friend Emma is brutally raped and murdered by vampires. From that moment Lexie’s “perfect world” begins to crumble. She discovers her entire life has been a sham and everyone she cares about has been lying to her. Angry doesn’t begin to describe her reaction to the news. Plunged into a two-thousand year old war between good and evil, she is propelled into a world of blood, lust and dark secrets. She must embrace her birthright to fight an ancient threat to humanity. Bequeathed with the dubious gift of being the “Chosen One,” Lexie meets the enigmatic Etienne Benoit. She falls hard for him and when he betrays her, she vows to get revenge. After all, she is a vampire executioner and killing vampire is what she does.

Genre(s):

Horror > Occult, Fantasy > Paranormal & Urban

Series:

The Vampire Redemption Series, #1

Length:

284 pages

Release date:

2016-03-17

Teaser

“Think about it before you answer,” Etienne urged, leaning toward her. “Anything at all could be critical to the investigation.”

“Wait, there is one thing. After dinner we bumped into a couple who seemed to make Em very uneasy, almost frightened. They introduced themselves to us. Their names were… let me think a minute. I can’t quite recall. I think the man’s name began with an F.”

My Opinion

This book introduces you to Lexie Miles, leading a normal life until the unexpected death of her friend Emma turns her life in a different direction.

With her début novel When Darkness Falls, Ellen Chauvet has created the first book in The Vampire Redemption Series. Based on rather typical components, the story comprises some nicely added accents. It has a good plot line, a little to far on the steamy side with many explicit scenes. Despite that it is a nice read. Ellen Chauvet paints a clear picture of Lexie’s mind while the story evolves. Lexie is wearisome, she is of sufficient depth, this also applies to the other characters – depending on their relevance. Would I read the next book in the series: Yes, my curiosity is raised.

This is a book for you if you like vampire fantasy and lots of steamy situations, and if you like stubborn female characters.

Linguistics (in the ARC; this has presumably been dealt with in the published version): Heinrick and Frankfort instead of the existing Heinrich and Frankfurt; some typos in the French words

In brief:

Cover

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Writing

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Plot

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Characters

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Mood

Suspenseful, dark

Pace

Fast

POV

Third person – past tense

Language

😳

Violence

😳 – 😡

Sexual content

😡

About the author

Ellen Chauvet was born in Jefferson City, Missouri where she lived for only a year before moving to Boulder, Colorado with her parents. At the age of 7 her father took a position with an international soft drink company and Ellen spent the next six years of her life in South America. Although their main home was in Bogotá, Colombia, she spent short periods of time in most of the large cities in South America and speaks Spanish fluently.

Her love for reading developed at an early age and she wrote several short stories and plays which were lost over the years and many moves. In 2003 a friend introduced her to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Ellen was fascinated by the idea of good and evil vampires. At that point she started reading every vampire novel she could find, particularly loving Anne Rice, Charlaine Harris and Laurell K. Hamilton. Ellen is a master in communication and decided to use her skills to write. Her fortes are sex, violence and action. When Darkness Falls is the first in a series of books called The Vampire Redemption Series and is adult fiction. Ellen lives in British Columbia and finds the months of rain and gloom particularly conducive to this genre.